*** Superchunk

INDOOR LIVING

(Merge)

This Chapel Hill foursome have been doing what they do so well for long enough now that it's all too easy to take their patented brand of emotionally resonant hum-and-buzz indie rock for granted. (Consistency may not breed contempt, but it sure isn't the best way to make headlines.) Which may explain why singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan is now finding inspiration in the example of a semi-obscure jazz saxist from Georgia. "Are you bitter/Are you tired/Is your jaw permanently wired/From years of explaining how you feel?" he asks against a backdrop of tuneful, churning guitars on "Song for Marion Brown."

McCaughan and Superchunk don't sound bitter or tired. They are, however, a little less wired than they were in '91, when No Pocky for Kitty offered adrenaline rushes that also stimulated the cerebral cortex. After seven years, the tempos are a little slower and there are more keyboards in the background. But bristling guitars, rippling melodies, and sharp songwriting are still what define Superchunk -- consistently.

-- Matt Ashare